Food-slicing machines



June 2, 1970 J. L. ANIECKI ETAL 3,515,191

FOOD- L June 2, 1970 J, ANEcK| ETAL 3,515,191

FOOD-SLICING MACHINES Filed Feb. 20, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I VI A W23;

June 2, 1970 J. L. ANECKI ETAL 3,515,191

FOOD-SLICING MACHINES Filed Feb. 20, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 fzwl BMWUnited States Patent US. Cl. 146-102 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREA food slicing machine of the type having a rotating circular cuttingwheel which is rendered safer by enclosing the sharpening stones withinthe blade guard so that it is no longer necessary to run the machinewhile the blade is exposed, even when the blade is being re-sharpened.

This invention relates to food slicing machines of the type having arotating circular blade and is particularly concerned with a sharpeningattachment which is employed to sharpen the edge of the blade and toshield the exposed upper edge of the blade.

Normally the exposed upper edge portion of the blade is protected by theguard of a sharpening attachment during normal operation of the foodslicing machine, the attachment being movable to a position in whichsharpening stones can be applied to the exposed portion of the bladeedge when it is desired to sharpen the blade. As this sharpeningoperation has to take place at fairly frequent intervals it is desirablefor the movement of the attachment from the blade and the movement ofthe sharpening stones to the blade to be as simple as possible. Hithertoall such arrangements have been fairly complicated and have all sufferedfrom the disadvantage that the edge of the knife blade has been exposedduring movement of the attachment, leading to a risk of injury.

A food slicing machine in accordane with the invention has a sharpeningattachment housing which acts both to protect the exposed upper edgeportion of the rotatable blade and house sharpening stones for the bladeedge. The attachment is adjustable from a position in which the bladeedge is protected for normal running of the machine to a position inwhich the sharpening stones can be brought into operation to sharpen theblade edge by a movement parallel to or substantially parallel to theplane of the blade and a movement perpendicular to or substantiallyperpendicular to, that plane. Thus all that needs to be done is to liftthe attachment housing relatively to the body of the machine and thebody of the blade, move the guard housing perpendicular to the plane ofthe blade and then push the attachment housing down over the blade to teposition in which the sharpening stones can be applied to the bladeedge. When the blade has been sharpened, the guard housing is againlifted and moved back perpendicular to the blade and then pushed down ina plane parallel to the blade to the position in which the blade isprotected for normal running. This movement is very easy and what ismore the blade is etfectively guarded at all times.

Preferably means are provided to lock the guard in the relativelydownward position in which it covers the blade.

A further advantage of the invention is that the housing can be heldrigidly in the correct position so that the grinding stones when appliedto the blade edge are always held at a correct angle to the blade edgewhich helps to prevent wear of the sharpening stones and damage to theblade.

Preferably the sharpener housing is mounted for move- 3,515,191 PatentedJune 2, 1970 ment perpendicular to the plane of the blade in a slidehousing, the slide housing being mounted in the main housing of theapparatus, for movement in a plane parallel to that of the blade.

Preferably guide pins are provided so that once the sharpened housinghas been lifted it can only subsequently be allowed to move downwardsover the blade in one of two positions in which the guide pins, whichfor example may be secured to the main housing engage in holes in theslide portion of the guard housing.

An embodiment of a food slicing machine in accordance with the inventionwill now be described by way of example with reference ot theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the food slicing machine;

FIG. 2 is a sectional elevation of the guard housing; and

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the guard taken at right angles to FIG. 2.f

The food slicing machine comprises essentially a main housing generallyindicated at 2 in which a circular knife blade 4 is rotatably driven bya motor 6.

Food is placed in a hopper 8 and is fed to the blade by gravity, thehopper being reciprocated past the blade either manually by means of ahandle 10 or by a motor (not shown).

The housing 2 supports a sharpener housing 12 and cover 14 which acts toprotect the exposed upper edge portion of the blade 4. The housing 12carries a sharpening stone and a honing stone 16 (only one of which isshown in the drawing) which are rotatably mounted on the outer wall ofthe housing and can be brought to bear against the edge of the blade 4when the housing 12 is in the the sharpening position as shown in FIG.1, by means of press buttons (not shown).

The housing 12 includes a flange 18 secured to a slide rod 20 by meansof screws 22. The slide rod 20 is mounted in a corresponding bore 24 ina slide housing 26 for movement in the slide housing in a directionperpendicular to the plane of the blade 4. The slide housing 26 includesa downwardly extending pin 28 which is mounted for movement in a planeparallel to that of the blade 4, in a bore 30 contained in the mainhousing 2.

The pin 28 is biased upwardly (as seen in the drawings) in the bore 3 0by means of a coil spring 32 but is held in the downward position shownin FIG. 1 by means of a lock screw 34 (see FIG. 3) which is screwthreadedly engaged in a tapped bore 36 in the main housing and the innerend 38 of which engages in a slot 40 in the periphery of the pin 28.

In order to ensure that the sharpener housing is only lowered over theblade 4 in one of two positions, namely a guard position and asharpening position, two guide pins 42 are provided each projectingupwardly from the main housing '2 through holes 44 in the base of theslide housing and upwardly into the bore 24 of that housing. The sliderod 20 is provided with two holes 46 corresponding to the pins 42 sothat the slide 20 and slide housing can only be lowered over theprojecting upper ends of the pins 42 in one of two positionscorresponding to the guard, and sharpening positions, of the guardhousing.

When it is desired to move the sharpener housing from the sharpeningposition shown in FIG. 2 the screw 34 is unscrewed from the positionshown in FIG. 3 to allow the spring 32 to move the slide housingupwardly relatively to the main housing 2 and the knife blade 4. Whenthe sharpener housing has moved upwardly to a position determined by thelength of the slot 40, the pins 42 no longer engage in the holes 46 inthe base of the slide 20 and the sharpener housing can then be moved tothe right as shown in FIG. 1 with the slide 20 moving in the bore 20.When a position is reached in which the right hand pin 42 (as shown inFIG. 1) is aligned with the right hand hole 46 then the slide housingcan be moved downwardly relatively to the main housing 2 and the knifeblade 4, and this is arranged to be the case when the right hand end ofthe slide 20 abuts the right hand end of the bore 24.

As the arrangement of the food slicing blade is generally not vertical,as shown in the drawings, but rather is at an angle to the vertical theinclination of the bore 24 will be downwardly away from the knife 4.Thus the slide 20 normally moves in the bore 24 from the position shownin the drawing to the sharpening position, under its own weight.

When the slide has moved in the bore 24 then downward movement of theslide housing relatively to the knife can take place until the end 38 ofthe lock screw 34 abuts the upper end of the slot 40 to limit thedownward movement of the guard housing. The screw 34 is then tightenedto maintain the guard housing in the new position, in which the upperedge of the knife blade 4 is shielded within a recess 48 at therelatively inner edge of the guard housing.

Throughout this movement the knife blade 4 has been protected by thecover 14 of the sharpener housing and has not been effectively exposed.

When the sharpener housing is in the position shown in FIG. 1 ready forsharpening, the sharpening stone 16 and the honing stone 16 are rigidlypositioned relatively to the edge of the knife blade (except formovement in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the blade) and in thisway the stone are always applied to the edge of the blade at the correctangle leading to a reduction of wear of the stones and a lessening ofany risk of damage to the edge of the blade.

When the blade has worn the position of the sharpening attachment can beadjusted by means of the regulating screw 50 shown in FIG. 3.

We claim:

1. A food slicing machine comprising a rotary blade; a protective shieldarranged to normally shield said blade; and sharpening stones housedwithin the protective shield; the shield being adjustable relative tothe blade from a position in which the blade edge is protected fornormal running of the machine into a position in which the sharpeningstones may be brought into operation to sharpen the blade edge while thelatter is still protected by the shield.

2. A food slicing machine as claimed in claim 1 in which means areprovided to lock the shield in a position in which it covers the blade.

3. A food slicing machine as claimed in claim 1 in which the shield forthe sharpening stones is mounted for movement in a directionperpendicular to the plane of the blade in a slide housing, the slidehousing being itself mounted in a main housing for movement in a planeparallel to that of the blade.

4. A food slicing machine as claimed in claim 3 in which guide pins areprovided aligned with holes in the slide portion in the slide housingupstanding from the main housing and the arrangement being such thatonce the slide housing has been moved in a direction parallel to theplane of the blade away from the blade so as to be disengaged with thepin, it can only subsequently move down away from the blade in one oftwo positions in which the guide pins engage in the holes.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS W. GRAYDON ABERCROMBIE, PrimaryExaminer US. Cl. X.R. 51248

